Rachel looks to the future

I can’t afford to leave anything to chance, because I want to be the best out there — Connor

GOLFER Rachel Connor has great expectations. In fact, she wants to be the very best.

That’s some statement from the 19-year-old former Our Lady’s pupil, who heads back to America this week to prepare for the Duramed Futures Tour.

Arrogant? A bit cocky perhaps? Not a bit of it. Talking to Rachel as she prepares for another session in the gym, the teenager is quite simply determined to succeed.

She has swapped the blue skies of Florida for the cold and damp of the North-West for Christmas, but thoughts of what 2010 might bring are never far from her thoughts.

Rachel knows an impressive run of results on the Futures circuit could open the door to the riches of the LPGA Tour and the challenges set by Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie and Karrie Webb.

But why America for the Royton girl when she could have trod a path in Europe for a few years before trying her luck on the other side of ‘The Pond’?

“The European Tour is great and there are some superb tournaments, but I thought it was a sideways step and to play on the LPGA was always going to be my aim anyway,” said Rachel, who wound up her amateur career by finishing third in the British Open Strokeplay Championship.

“Some people said I should have tried for the LPGA straight away, but that would have meant starting at the bottom, which I didn’t want to do. I felt gaining experience on the Futures would stand me in good stead.

“I’ll be learning the ropes next year, but I’m still looking to be in the top 10 at the end of it. I want to qualify for the LPGA Tour. That’s the ultimate ambition and I believe I can do it.

“I will work hard, from 7.30am to 5.30pm, on my fitness, golf and psychology. I can’t afford to leave anything to chance, because I want to be the best out there.

“There a lot of negative people about, but I’m just the opposite, perhaps because it has been hammered home to me so much.

“In America, they say even if it takes you 100 times, you’ve got to keep trying, because on one occasion it might just happen for you.”

The build-up to the Futures Tour starts immediately Rachel returns to the David Leadbetter Academy in Florida.

There she will practice five days a week and receive expert tuition from a host of top coaches.

She has trained and competed over the last three winters in the ‘Sunshine State’ and is accustomed to the conditions.

The first event — the inaugural Mexico Classic at the El Tigre Golf and Country Club — gets under way on March 22.

Before that and on the invitation of the LPGA, she will represent the Futures Tour as their rookie at the annual PGA trade show at the end of next month.

But Rachel hopes to play in this country at some stage in 2010 as she wants to qualify for the Women’s British Open at Royal Birkdale at the end of July.

In the meantime, she has enjoyed all the comforts of being back home.

She said: “It’s nice to see family and friends again and do what 19-year-olds do, chill out.

“But I also miss America. I’ve got my own little family out there. I’m among 10 boys and I’m the mum of the group, which is nice in a way.

“I will be busy moving into a new apartment in Bradenton near Orlando when I arrive back.

“It means I’ve got to do my own cooking, so I’m already thinking about buying some pots and pans. It’s a nightmare.”